Revelry with Ghosts

Santa Barbara Revels Winter Solstice Celebration The Ghosts of Haddon Hall at the Lobero was last produced 11 years ago and this year’s production was undoubtedly one of the best and sleekest productions staged by founder Susan Keller’s talented company.

The colorful, energized show directed by Matt Tavianini with Dauri Kennedy as the new music director, celebrated 800 years of English and European music with the show set in 1926 and based on historical events at an historic stately pile called Haddon Hall – owned by the dukes of Rutland – which has sat abandoned for more than 200 years and is set for demolition as a new highway comes through.

Having seen both productions, I had a particular interest as late friend, author and TV commentator Lord John Julius Norwich’s mother was Lady Diana Cooper (née Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners) – well-known English society beauty and daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland.

Lord Norwich was also the godson of the Aga Khan and the late newspaper tycoon Lord Beaverbrook, with his family living at Belvoir Castle in Rutland, England’s smallest county, for more than 500 years.

John, who visited Venice more than 200 times and wrote innumerable books on La Serenissima, was close to my late friend Cat Pollon, who served on the board of Save Venice, died in 2018 at the age of 88, and would have undoubtedly loved the Revels show given its very local connection to the Manners family.

As Susan always reminds us: “Join us and be joyous!”

And as usual we did, and we were…